Ferronova

Market position

Ferronova positions FerroTrace against conventional blue dyes and radiocolloid tracers, arguing that blue dyes are non-specific and pass rapidly through multiple nodal levels while radiotracers require careful handling, have a narrow window of use and can obscure nodes near the injection site. Its investor Renew Pharmaceuticals frames the technology as complementary to the broader fluorescence-guided surgery field. The company notes that surgical research attracts about 0.1% of global cancer research funding.

The tracer is radiation-free for patients and staff, has no half-life and therefore avoids the time-sensitive logistics of radioisotope tracers, and is reported to be visible within minutes with potential nodal retention up to six months — enabling MRI mapping prior to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, which can otherwise impair conventional dye and radiotracer mapping. Its mannose label targets the macrophage CD206 receptor for specificity to high-risk nodes, and it is designed to work with existing laparoscopic and robotic NIR camera systems.

Technology

FerroTrace is a mannose-labelled super-paramagnetic iron-oxide nanoparticle tracer designed for lymphatic uptake and retention in high-risk lymph nodes via macrophage CD206 receptor binding. It is detected with MRI, the company's FerroMag magnetometer probe, and laparoscopic or robotic near-infrared cameras when used with indocyanine green dye. The particle formulation draws on RAFT-derived block copolymer stabilisation technology licensed from the University of Sydney. A second-generation FerroTrace-FAPI program uses fibroblast activation protein-targeted iron-oxide nanoparticles for molecular MRI of tumour margins, based in part on a FAPI ligand licensed from Purdue, and has been compared with PSMA-PET in pre-clinical tumour models.

Go-to-market

Development is conducted through multi-centre clinical trials with Australian hospitals and research institutes, supported by government grants and university partnerships. Commercial channels are being built through partnership, including the agreement with Renew Pharmaceuticals (a subsidiary of Singapore-listed UltraGreen.ai) covering the Verdye ICG dye and, as investor, supporting later-stage clinical studies and commercialisation. The tracer is designed to work with existing laparoscopic and robotic NIR cameras and standard MRI, reducing the need for new capital equipment beyond the FerroMag probe.

Surgeons, radiologists, radiation oncologists and pathologists treating patients with complex solid tumours, with current clinical focus on upper gastrointestinal cancers (gastric and esophageal) and prior or ongoing programs in oral, colorectal, prostate and pancreatic cancer.

Geography

Headquartered in Adelaide, South Australia, with a registered address at the University of South Australia's Mawson Lakes campus and a postal address in Prospect East. A US office is maintained in Houston, Texas, managed by the Chief Medical Officer. Clinical trials are run at Australian sites including the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Flinders Medical Centre, Austin Health / Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre; the company has stated plans to continue research in the US over the following two years.

History

Ferronova traces its technology to CSIRO's development of RAFT polymerisation in 1997 and subsequent work by Assoc Prof Brian Hawkett and the Key Centre for Polymer Colloids at the University of Sydney, which from 1999 researched RAFT in aqueous disperse systems, from 2003 applied it to stabilising aqueous ferrofluids and magnetic nanoparticles for medicine, and in 2009 obtained a patent on block copolymer stabilisation of particulate material in pharmacologically acceptable liquid carriers. In 2011 Assoc Prof Sarah Thompson (Royal Adelaide Hospital) and Prof Benjamin Thierry (University of South Australia) began collaborating, with New South Wales Cancer Council funding, on tracers for high-risk lymph node identification in esophageal cancer. Ferronova was incorporated in 2016 as a spin-out of the University of South Australia and Victoria University in New Zealand with seed investment from Powerhouse Ventures, and completed preclinical validation including large-animal feasibility, optimisation and toxicity studies between 2016 and 2020. A collaboration with the University of Sydney began in 2017 and became a licensing agreement in 2019. A 15-patient first-in-human oral cancer trial ran at the Royal Adelaide Hospital from 2020 to 2022, followed by a BioMedTech Horizons-funded colorectal cancer trial with the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research from 2022. Financing progressed through a Series A in 2020, Series A2 in 2023 and Series A3 in 2025.

Risks & controversies

FerroTrace and related products remain investigational and are not approved for commercial use, as stated on the company's own website. The lead upper-GI trial was still enrolling as of December 2025, with completion expected in early 2026, so clinical and regulatory outcomes remain unresolved.